The story of the Central Educational Center (CEC) isa living example of what happens when one of theworld s foremost experts in human performance, Dr.Joe Harless, applies his expertise to publiceducation. This story, as told through six years ofresearch, is the realization of multiple compellingvisions: the role of systems design in improvingpublic education, how career and technical educationcan lead to district wide educational reform, thepromise of innovative charter schools and parentalchoice, and finally a local community that cametogether to do something about an education systemthat was failing their community. CEC s success is atestament to the power of collaboration betweencommunity members that deem society as the primarystakeholder of education, emphasizing studentpreparation with relevant, marketable skills forlife alongside academic preparation for college. CEChas systematically changed the HOW and WHAT oftraditional public education. This story detailsCEC s journey from vision in Harless s book The EdenConspiracy (1998) to reality and suggests potentialpathways for replication on local, state, andnational levels.